From
the Editor: For close to a decade now the Access Board has been talking about
the problem of making automatic teller machines (ATMs) accessible to blind customers.
Representatives of banking organizations and ATM manufacturers periodically
make reports about how difficult and expensive the problem is to solve. Everyone
shakes their heads, and the Access Board goes back to think some more about
the problem. Meanwhile blind people listen to wisecracks about Braille on drive-through
machines and head for the teller's window to conduct their banking business.

The Danbury Chapter of the
National Federation of the Blind of Connecticut has had enough. Its members
set out to inform themselves about the problem and work on finding a solution.
At the very least they have discovered that a good bit of inertia has so far
prevented a solution. Perhaps if other chapters take up the challenge, we can
begin to bring the kind of pressure that may help to get things moving. Dr.
Chris Kuell is a new member of the NFB. This is the way he describes what happened:

Recently I began attending
NFB meetings at a new chapter in Southern Connecticut. While reviewing old business
at the December meeting, an issue concerning banking practices in our state
caught my attention. Maureen Carr, a fellow Federationist, detailed her encounters
with Webster Bank.

The trouble started in the
spring of 1998. The local news reported that several banks in our area were
instituting new policies, which included charging a fee for using a live bank
teller. The banks want to encourage customers to use their Automatic Teller
Machines (ATMs) because they are cheaper for the bank than paying a teller to
conduct transactions.

ATMs have text displays
for instructions and keypads for entering transaction information. However,
without the help of a sighted assistant a blind person can't read the text display
in order to enter the required information. Various banks offer different models
of ATM machines, and there is little consistency among them. While blind users
may be able to memorize the instructions and commands for a specific machine,
we are not free to operate the multitude of other ATMs independently. So, having
no alternatives, most blind people are forced to do their banking at a counter
with a live teller.

When Maureen brought this
to the attention of Webster Bank in June of 1998, they agreed to waive all transaction
fees made for use of a teller, encoded her account to reflect this decision,
and considered the matter resolved.

By now this had become a
hot topic at the NFB chapter meetings, and the chapter president, Jeff Dittel,
became involved. When pressed as to why their ATM machines were not accessible
to blind people, Webster Bank replied that the manufacturers of the ATMs did
not offer accessible models, so there was nothing the bank could do. They also
pointed out with obvious pride that their machines had been equipped with Braille
touch pads since 1993. Maureen and Jeff wrote letters and made phone calls to
the bank, pointing out the futility of these Braille key pads since a visually
impaired person had no way to read the screen's text display so could not know
what keys to push. Along with this information Maureen submitted a list of suggestions
regarding banking policies and blind customers. The list included the need for
bank officials to consult visually impaired customers before making banking
accessibility decisions.

The bank's attitude was
dismissive to say the least, and the final pronouncement was that "maintaining
standards for security, reliability, and performance" are of top priority,
and alternative technologies are not available. When the manufacturer of Webster
Bank's ATM machines was contacted, it claimed there was no demand for blind-accessible
machines from banks, and hence it did not produce such equipment. This is the
never-ending wheel of blame and excuse in which blind people get left behind.

Automatic Teller Machines
are everywhere in our society today. Airports, banks, malls, grocery stores,
and even convenience stores have them. They are easy to use, fast, and a regular
banking mechanism for sighted people today. An article in the January 25, 1999,
Newsweek detailed how ATMs are now being used for dispensing gas, stamps,
airplane tickets, and ski-lift tickets. All indications are that the trend of
more goods being available through ATM purchases will continue.

In our quest for independence
blind people deserve this same convenience. According to reports by the Lions
Club there are approximately 1.3 million visually impaired people over the age
of twenty-five in the United States. It is safe to assume that nearly all of
these people have bank accounts, surely a significant enough number to be considered
valuable customers. While I can understand the banking industry's commitment
to cost reduction, the price of accessibility to the banks would be minimal.
Furthermore, the cost would be offset by attracting additional customers and
would generate invaluable public relations benefits. The bank's argument that
accessible machines are not available is weak and refutable. Along with the
Braille keypads already in use, it would seem simple enough to add inexpensive
telephone headsets for audible instructions to ATM machines.

Perhaps Webster's vendor
does not offer accessible teller machines, but an ATM manufacturer in Canada
does. In 1997 NCR, a Canadian company that specializes in data and financial
transaction processing equipment, made available what they claim is the first
audio banking machine. They are currently being installed in Canada. Curtis
Chong, Director of the Technology Department of the National Federation of the
Blind, forwarded a press release to me. It was dated October, 1997, and said
that NCR's banking machines were designed and developed in conjunction with
the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and the Royal National Institute
for the Blind as consultants. Apparently these ATMs have headphone jacks available
for anyone who wishes to use personal headphones to conduct audio-assisted electronic
transactions.

This article is not intended
as an endorsement of NCR's product line; I have never used one of its ATMs.
But this press release demonstrates that access technology for ATMs is currently
available. I trust that, when a few large banks begin using audio-assisted electronic
banking machines, it won't be long before other banks follow.

While the actions and attitudes
of Webster Bank devalue the blind customer, they are not atypical. I called
four other banks in Connecticut (Fleet Bank, Peoples Bank, Chase Manhattan Bank,
and Nutmeg Federal Savings and Loan) as well as three in New York (Bank of New
York, Chase Manhattan Bank, and Putnam Valley Savings and Loan), and none offered
blind-accessible banking machines. I did have some very entertaining discussions
about the logic and value of Braille keypads on drive-through ATMs, but found
no answers to accessibility issues. Clearly the technology is now available
for blind access to electronic teller machines. So call your local banks and
ask about accessible ATMs and why they don't have them. Repeated requests will
encourage and motivate banks to bring about the changes that we must insist
on.

That's what Dr. Kuell sent
the Monitor Editor. I turned to Curtis Chong for a bit more background.
We conclude this article with Mr. Chong's comment:

"My discussions with
NCR indicate that building in voice-output is not a trivial task, given the
way the current crop of ATMs is designed. However, what NCR does have available
is a voice toolkit which facilitates the incorporation of voice-output into
custom ATM applications. This is extra work, which the local banks would have
to arrange to have done.

"Should we wait for
standards from the Access Board? My sense is that we should not. The problem
is fairly simple to solve technically. However, so far no one has had the will
to solve it."

Perhaps if the organized
blind begin putting pressure on banks across the country to solve the ATM-access
problem, everyone will discover that there is good reason to purchase the Canadian
technology or develop alternatives. We certainly have nothing to lose by trying.